With All the Changes in the Airline Industry, Are Airline Mileage Credit Cards Still a Good Deal?

Soaring gas costs, charging for every bag – are airline cards still a good deal? I myself use Southwest’s Rapid Rewards cards as my only airline card. Oh how things have changed with Rapid Rewards!

I recently traveled to Las Vegas. I used to be able to fly round-trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas for $51/each way. While shopping fares, I discovered the cost has pretty much doubled and then some *ouch*. Faced with this situation, I decided to use my Rapid Rewards for this ticket instead. To my horror, since I picked the most popular times to fly (leaving Friday and coming back on Sunday), Southwest wanted me to use one full round trip rewardfor each way. I couldn’t do it.

For other people who use their credit cards to rack up miles, things have changed as well, and you need to be aware of some other gotchas: